1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to hats and is specifically concerned with a baseball cap that can be adorned with buttons and logos, such as patches bearing embroidered and/or silk screened designs, which are detachable and interchangeable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Baseball caps are a very popular type of hat, commonly worn throughout the world. Typically, most baseball caps sport some kind of logo or design on the front face of the cap that typically includes symbols, slogans or decorative designs. Baseball caps having these kinds of logos are particularly popular as they allow the wearer to express their allegiance to sporting teams, companies, etc. and also to express their individual tastes in apparel.
Unfortunately, most logos are either sewn or printed onto the fabric of the baseball cap which limits the cap to displaying only this one logo. If the wearer wishes to display a different logo on his baseball cap, he must then purchase another cap bearing the desired logo. However, most wearers of baseball caps do not want to purchase a different cap for each logo they wish to wear. Consequently, there has been a need in the prior art for a baseball cap that has interchangeable logos.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,355 to Galanto et al., issued Sep. 16, 1986 addresses this particular need. Specifically this patent discloses a baseball cap where the front face and the visor, in conjunction with each other, is covered with pile material which permits different logos displaying insignias and the like, having hook fastener material as backing, to be positioned on the front face of the cap to thereby present a different appearance for the baseball cap. The hook fastener and pile material disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,355 is the same type of hook fastener and pile material sold under the trademark "VELCRO". Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,545 to Tapia, issued Dec. 10, 1991 also discloses a cap assembly which has a front face covered by pile material allowing logos with different designs and insignias and hook fastener material as backing, to be positioned on the front face of the cap.
However, while the baseball caps disclosed in these prior art patents permit the wearer to interchange logos, repeated changing of the logos on the front face of the cap can result in the front face of the cap becoming deformed into a shape which is undesirable. Currently, most baseball caps have a layer of stiffening material, such as buckram, underneath the front face of the cap to support the front face so that it is substantially perpendicular to the cap's visor and thereby presents a substantially square appearance for the crown of the cap and thus results in a preferred appearance for the cap. Baseball caps having this appearance are generally more popular these days than the older style of cap, e.g. the caps worn by ballplayers in the 1930's, which had a rounded front face and thereby presented a more rounded appearance.
Unfortunately, repeatedly changing logos on the prior art caps which use hook and pile fastening material, i.e., "VELCRO" material, can result in the pile material pulling away from the stiffening material and thereby spoiling the preferred square appearance of the front face of the ball cap. This problem is often exacerbated as logos which are attached to the front face of a cap with these types of fasteners can be very difficult to remove and, consequently, much force is exerted on the pile material which can result in the pile material stretching or even ripping after repeated removal of the logos.
A need therefore exists in the prior art for a baseball cap which is capable of having different interchangeable logos and the like positioned thereon without repeated interchanging of logos altering the square appearance of the front face of the ball cap.